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The Current

The quest to design the perfect apple

Forget red delicious, horticulturists are racing to design for a market that demands better tasting, longer lasting, apples.
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The Current22:00The quest to design the perfect apple - Oct 13, 2014
Forget red delicious, horticulturists are racing to design for a market that demands better tasting, longer lasting, apples. Author of "Apples of Uncommon Character", Rowan Jacobsen says we're experiencing an apple renaissance right now sparked by the success of the Honeycrisp.

Patti Di Maria in her family-owned Bella Rosa Orchards in Kelowna B.C. (Elizabeth Hostland)

This season on The Current we're bringing you stories in our series By Design. . And of course, one word that's nearly synonymous with design is... Apple. But on this Thanksgiving Monday, we're not talking iPads or MacBooks. No, we're talking about the kind of apple that you might be baking into a pie, or might have been out picking.

Patti Di Maria says Honeycrisp apples live up their name - sweet and crispy. They make the best apple sauce, no sugar; they're amazing for pies. Pattis says if you've never tasted a honeycrisp or cooked with one, you don't know what you're missing! (Elizabeth Hostland)

Patti and her husband have been growing several varieties of apples there for 30 years. While you might not think much design goes into apples... after all, they literally grow on trees... there is a race in the horticultural world today to build a better tasting, longer-lasting apple... to design the perfect fruit.

Sam Di Maria with a load of apples at the family-owned orchards in Kelowna B.C. (Elizabeth Hostland)

The Honeycrisp is a superstar variety. The designer behind it was David Bedford, an apple breeder at the University of Minnesota. And if you're wondering about how you develop a new apple... suffice it to say, it involves growing a lot of apple trees... and tasting a lot of samples along the way.
 

I remember the first bite of a Honeycrisp. I was very new at my job so I didn't know all the range of textures and flavours that apples could have, and I remember biting into that and thinking 'oh what is going on here?' It was clear to me that it was different than the other 300 apples I'd probably eaten at that point. Usually when something is different it's not good. Then with a second and third thought I realized that this is not normal, but it's better than normal.- David Bedford, Apple Breeder, part of the team that developed the Honeycrisp apple

Rowan Jacobsen is a journalist and the author of a new book called Apples of Uncommon Character: 125 Heirlooms, Modern Classics and Little-Known Wonders. He was in Calais, Vermont.

Bob Bors is an assistant professor and Head of the Fruit Program at the University of Saskatchewan where he breeds apples.

Ambrosia apples popped up unexpectedly in B.C.'s Similkameen Valley. It bore its first fruit in the 1990s and takes its name from Greek mythology and the word for the 'food of the gods,' says food columnist. (Elizabeth Hostland)

What kind of apple makes your mouth water? Let us know.

Our toll free line is always available ... just call 1 877 287 7366. You can tweet us @thecurrentcbc and make sure to use the hashtag #ByDesignCBC to be part of our ongoing conversation on design. You can also post on Facebook.Facebook, or e-mail usthrough our website.

This segment was produced by The Current's Pacinthe Mattar and Peter Mitton.

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